Hydrofluoroether compounds (HFEs) comprise a class of commercially valuable chemical compounds. In a number of applications, hydrofluoroethers have been found to be useful as replacements for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are currently disfavored and regulated due to the adverse effects that CFCs are believed to have on the environment. Hydrofluoroether compounds have been found to be less harmful to the earth's ozone layer than CFCs because, for example, they are typically more easily degraded within the earth's atmosphere. Thus, hydrofluoroether compounds are said to exhibit a low “ozone depletion potential”.
Hydrofluoroether compounds have been prepared by various different methods including, for example, alkylation of perfluorinated acid fluorides (prepared by electrochemical fluorination or by direct fluorination), alkylation of perfluorinated ketones (prepared by reaction of perfluorinated acid fluorides and perfluorinated olefins), and photooxidation of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE). Such methods have various advantages and disadvantages. For example, the latter method requires the handling of a relatively hazardous reagent, TFE, and also provides a broad product mixture that generally requires extensive purification.